Source: ComingSoon.net, IMDB
There seemed to be some confusion on the part of the interwebz about whether or not red-haired EMMA STONE would play red-haired MARY JANE WATSON or blond-haired GWEN STACY.

Regardless of the hair, Stone has been slected to portray the role of GWEN STACY. And there seems to be a lot of importance attached to this casting so THRALL WORLD is led to believe that MJ might not figure as prominent in the SPIDER-MAN initial reboot movie as producers rewind and start anew the telling of the popular comic book hero.

EMMA STONE [ZOMBIELAND] has been cast as the female lead in the upcoming Spider-Man film film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures.

Stone has been tapped for the role of GWEN STACY opposite ANDREW GARFIELD [THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS] as Peter Parker.

The film, to be directed by Marc Webb [(500) DAYS OF SUMMER] from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will begin production in December and will be released in theaters nationwide in 3D on July 3, 2012.

Marc Webb, the director of the Golden Globe-nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer, will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

That's A Wrap: SAM RAIMI, TOBEY MAGUIRE, and KIRSTEN DUNST have officially spun their last web together as SONY opts to reboot the SPIDER-MAN franchise and start from scratch with a new director and cast.

The new chapter in the “Spider-Man” franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.

Bold move on the part of Sony. THRALL WORLD was passing up on reports that production was delayed on ‘Spider-Man 4′ over the past few weeks. But now comes word that the entire cast and crew is kaput and that the entire franchise is starting from scratch!

We “got” that the script was kind of “eh” and that must have been a solid “issue” in moving forward with the 4th Spider-Man movie. No problem there. Venom was a glaring mistake in Spider-Man 3 and Sony probably wanted to avoid being trapped to the history of that sub-par Spider-Man chapter – especially as they’re pursuing a Venom movie and possible franchise there as well.

But when you keep going to the well at some point the well runs dry. When a comic book runs astray it’s easy to axe the creative team and start fresh. But such is not the case with comic book movies. It will be long time before we see another Superman, Fantastic 4 and even X-Men is being rebooted to a younger generation of familiar mutants after the turd that was ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’.

Bottom line in the new age of the comic book movie of the week? Make sure the movie you greenlight doesn’t suck because it appears to be pretty difficult to get over.

Sam Raimi commented:

“Working on the ‘Spider-Man’ movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job.”

Source: ComingSoon.net, BadTaste.it
Doesn’t mean it’s a done deal though just yet. The big question is if the Vulture from the classic Spider-Man comic book stories from the old-school 60’s run is compelling enough as a villian to translate well today. Here’s the latest:

Malkovich was interviewed by an Italian sports show called “Quelli Che il Calcio” and he was asked not only about whether he had been approached to play the Vulture but also about the production delays. The fine folks at the Italian web site Bad Taste have graciously provided an English summation of what was said on the show:

“When conductor Simona Ventura asked him about his role of Vulture in the movie, he not only didn’t deny his involvement, but confermed that he’s waiting for the final script to be sent to him, and that the movie has been delayed. He also hopes that shooting will begin as soon as possible”.

Read more HERE and if you can read in Italian click HERE for the original interview.

THE VULTURE (from waaay back in SPIDER-MAN #2) is starting to sound like a very strong possibility as a key villian in 'SPIDER-MAN 4'

Plot synopsis: Slingers is set in the year 2960 A.D., following mankind’s first interplanetary war. Humanity is now clustered into a finite, but still vast section of the universe known as Enclosed Space. Humanity won the war with an aggressive alien enemy, but at a cost. The way back to Earth is now cut off by an impassable barrier – a side effect of the blast that finally pushed the enemy back.

The show takes its name from a group of people thrown together on board an experimental spacecraft that is capable of Slinging itself to any point in space. In theory it’s the only craft capable of getting home. In reality the crew are using it to carry out a series of high tech heists and get even with those who are now exploiting their positions in the post war hierarchy.

Dominic ‘DM’ Monroe, a special ops war veteran becomes the de facto leader of this small team of thieves who rail against the decision by military command to just ‘stay where they are and make the best of it’. They’re determined to get home and if that means breaking a few rules and picking up a lot of enemies along the way then so be it.

Ghost House Pictures [Sam Raimi production house] has made a seven-figure deal with a Uruguayan commercials director to direct his pitch for an alien invasion film — an exceptional deal for a helmer making his feature directing debut.

Most first-time helmers make $250,000, but Fede Alvarez scored his million-dollar deal based on the heat generated by “Ataque de panico!” (Panic Attack), a four-minute, 48-second short about an apocalyptic robot attack Alvarez directed through his commercial production house for less than $500. After the short found its way to the Internet and Kanye West featured a link to the film on his blog, a 30-year old who was not on anyone’s radar outside the Uruguayan blurb market suddenly found the biggest agencies in Hollywood in a panic to sign him. That created a chain reaction of activity over two weeks that led to a trip to Hollywood, where he met with every major agency, management firm and law firm that responded to the short.

Read more HERE and watch the original short (made for a reported $500 or $5,000 depending on which source) below.